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New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6213, 15 October 1881, Page 4

We do not think that the country has quite appreciated the very radical change made by the Licensing Act of last session, in all the machinery affecting the issue of licenses and the control of the public-house system. A good deal might be said on the point as to whether or not the more prominent alterations are improvements, or whether their tendency is not simply to create and build up a monopoly of enormous value in the hands of the present holders of licensed premises. What we desire now to call public attention to is, the vast machinery which will have to be put in motion to elect the " licensing committees " which are to supersede the present Licensing Commissioners, and the great expense which their election and maintenance will be to the local bodies. The licensing committee is to consist of five persons, to be elected annually by the ratepayers in the manner provided by the Regulation of Local Elections Act, 1876. That involves a returning-officer, notices by advertisement, the taking of a poll, &c, all costing money. If the licensing districts were larger, probably all this i would matter little; but the Act prescribes that they must be small. The Good Templars in the House were determined that the districts should be restricted, so as to give them a favourable opportunity of working the local option clauses. Under the Act, if a borough is divided into wards, each ward must constitute a district, and when a county is divided into ridings each riding must constitute a district. There are three wards in the city of Auckland, and as it is quite unlikely that anything like an agreement ■will be come to that the same five gentlemen shall act for each, we shall have fifteen persons acting in this matter of public-houses for the city of Auckland alone. For each riding of the County of Eden a committee will also have to be elected. Sir William Fox, in a speech made by him a few days ago, calculated that 800 licensing committees would be required over the colony ; but for all this turmoil of elections and cost of machinery, he consoled himself by saying that it would tend to keep the subject of temperance before the public mind. Wo doubt whether a better class of men will be secured than the present Licensing Commissioners. Citizens would serve when they had the honour of nomination by the Governor, and those nominated were as a rule judicious men, not of extreme views. Such men will, however, we apprehend, not care to go into a contested election, to hold the office of adjudicator upon public-house concerns. The most eager candidates will be partizans of the publicans, or men who desire entirely to suppress publichouses. The same distinctions may probably be made as to the voters — those who will be most regularly at the polls will probably be those who are influenced by brewers or publicans, or by total abstinence principles. The increased £ost of working the new administration will be a vexatious matter, especially to the counties and the smaller boroughs. All costs and expenses incurred in the election of licensing committees, and in the taking of polls in regard to applications for new licenses, are to be paid out of the fees accruing in the licensing district. At present, the Resident Magistrate acts as chairman of the commissioners, so that the whole of the licensing fees go to the funds of the local bodies. Henceforward there will be very serious deductions. In the borough of Thames, for instance, there will be wards with but two or three public-houses in them, and in counties the election of the committees and the polls on any new appli cation for license, will make the licensing system a much less profitable business than it has hitherto been. The licensing committees also are to have each an inspector and clerk, who must j receive salaries out of the license fees. We do not hear anything from Wellington about getting the machinery of this Act under way, and probably the Government will think that between the native difficulty and the general election they have quite enough trouble on their hands for the present.